


When Your World Collapses Around You, or Jack gets in a spot of bother

by a_wonderingmind



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Banter, Established Relationship, F/M, Historical Accuracy, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Platonic Bed Sharing, Queerplatonic Relationships, at least there's, i feel like I took the prompt and danced around it, i think, im not sure, more accurately queerplatonic bed sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 20:24:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14818257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_wonderingmind/pseuds/a_wonderingmind
Summary: March 1948: A meeting to discuss the fate of Berlin collapses, leaving Peggy and Daniel more than a little worried.





	When Your World Collapses Around You, or Jack gets in a spot of bother

**Author's Note:**

  * For [glorious_spoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/glorious_spoon/gifts).



> Sooo I hope you enjoy it?? I tried to get as much of your prompt in as possible :)  
> Also I watched Howards’ End and Peggy merged with Margaret Schlegel in my head a bit and now Peggy speaks German. I feel it isn’t too out of the realm of possibility, she did work at Bletchley!

“Arse.”

“Shut up Marge.”

“I swear if I hear another word out of either of you I’ll slap you with my crutch,”

“Try me, Danny boy. You wouldn’t d - ow!”

Silence.

“Remind me again who thought it would be a good idea for us all to share bed for two?”

“The one who added himself to the roster at the last minute, Jack.”

No reply. Daniel sighed.

“When you boys are finished berating each other, I want to get some sleep. I didn’t travel 8 hours to be kept awake by a pair of idiots,”

“Yes ma’am,”

“Shut up Jack.”

* * *

Despite the piles of bricks they had driven past on the way there, the building seemed in good shape. It almost seemed out of place, next to burnt out shells of buildings, though there were fewer and fewer these days, Peggy was told. It must have been a sight to behold in its heyday, built in Imperial Germany. There were pockmarks in the columns and in the walls, but no worse than the others. Sometimes you could see where people had tried to plaster over some of the worst cracks in the otherwise grandiose facade. The bricks were a light beige in stark contrast to the ebony doors that opened to reveal a well decorated interior. The job was to canvass the area and look out for potential dangers though, so admiring the decor was low on her list of priorities.

A quick sweep of the room revealed nothing of any alarm, but something unusual did catch Peggy’s eye. In amongst the knot of people, who were very clearly diplomats and city officials, was another woman, but she wasn’t dressed like one of the transcribers that one would often see at functions like this. There was a white streak in her hair and as she got into earshot of the group she heard the lady reply to ‘Frau Buergermeisterin’ - which really was unusual, a female mayor, especially with how chauvinistic the Soviets had been lately. 

It seemed that the lady noticed her too, and Peggy heard her make her excuses to leave the conversation. She threw a glance across the room, checking for Daniel and Jack, finding only Daniel. Jack was probably shepherding the the rest of the entourage into the building. This was a disadvantage of old mansions, the sheer length of corridors one had to walk to get to the meeting rooms. The woman had now reached Peggy, and they greeted each other with a quick but firm handshake. Up close the woman’s grey hair contrasted a lined face that seemed to give her a reverent and wise persona.

“I am Louise Schroeder. What is your name?

“Agent Carter, meine Frau. Ich könnte Ihr Deutsch,”

“That is good of you, but I would prefer to speak English. I feel I will be needing it in the coming months.”

“Of course,”

“Why are you here? You are security for the British, no? It pleases me that the Allies are also including you in their groups,”

The conversation was interrupted by someone announcing that demolition was going on nearby, and not to worry about bangs going off.

“I’m here with the American entourage, actually. Their translator lost his voice the day before we were due to fly out, and my fiancé was already on the security dispatch so here I am. I also have the advantage of being a trained agent as well,”

Louise looked at her shrewdly, catching the sarcasm in her voice.

“Which one is your fiancé?”

She pointed to Daniel, who was looking out one of the ceiling high windows.

“With the black hair and crutch. His name is Daniel, but we have both to some extent adopted Jack, who is currently not in the room,”

“They are your boys, no?”

Peggy nodded, “You could say that,” she smiled, mouth ticking upwards.

Louise looked up at her, a similar smile on her face. 

Just then there was a loud bang, which briefly silenced the room before the normal bubble of chatter resumed. Slowly, though, it became quieter, more nervous, until Peggy noticed that she and Daniel were the only security detail in the room (how that’d happened she had no idea) and the giant crack that had appeared above the door.

“I think it might be time to leave,” she remarked to the conversation, which now included Daniel and a couple of other Berlin delegates.

Starting the shout to get people out, she and Daniel made sure the whole delegation was in the garden safely. They turned around just as the west half of the building collapsed in on itself, throwing up a cloud of dust and leaving them spluttering as it billowed out to greet them. Covering her mouth and nose with her arm to prevent the worst of it, she tallied her protectees - Clay, Johnson, Marshall, Daniel (she noted that with considerable relief), McCloy, Williams… but no Jack. 

She sought out Daniel and collapsed into his embrace, sighing out of sheer relief that at least he was okay. She could allow herself that, but not for long. Jack was still in the building somewhere, trapped or… she scrubbed that thought from her mind as quickly as it came. 

Peggy and Daniel looked at each other, the same concern crossing their face. Neither had had eyes on Jack when the building collapsed. Daniel could see a mixture of intense fear and anger brewing in her eyes. He reached for her hand and stroked the palm with a finger, catching her eyes when she turned to look at him. He tried to exude as much calm as he could, although Peggy seemed to be able to see his turmoil. Her normally hazel eyes turned to a darker shade of brown that matched his own. The tapping of her fingers indicated that she was ready to start smashing heads together if it would help. 

The problem was, it wouldn’t. He knew the feeling of actually doing something would keep away the thoughts tugging at the edges, if there was something that you could do other than stand and shout. Which might not even help, depending on what state Jack was in, if he was unconscious, or… that though needed to be stopped there. If they just knew what was going on, perhaps she would find it easier to trust that they would do their job.

He took her hand in his and pulled her closer, planting a chaste kiss on her forehead.  
“Go talk to some people, at least knowing what’s happening might help,”

She strode away, the sense of purpose strengthening her step the further she went. There was a group of people standing around a fire truck, which looked like it had had an emblem hurriedly painted over on it’s side. You made the best out of what you had, he supposed. 

* * *

“nix zu tun my arse -”

“I didn’t know it was possible to make german sound any angrier,” he joked.

“Okay, Mr. Portuguese-isn’t-mutated-goddamn-spanish-Jack!”

“Touché, m’lady,” he said, putting on the heaviest British accent he could.

She laughed, “Shut up,”  
“They’re getting someone to call in the rescue dogs now, but apparently they’re not authorised to do that themselves, so there’s nothing they can do right now.” 

He sighed. “ Well, we’re gonna have to wait and see,”

About an hour later, a truck rolled up with several collies in the back, much to the relief of everyone who hadn’t already been ushered away to another meeting location. They had been allowed to stay behind by the grace of General Clay. 

Sitting under a tree to shelter from the spitting rain that had started, his arm around her and her head on his chest, they watched as the trainers set the dogs to work. It was a bit incongruous to see the grand facade of the building, exquisite pillars holding nothing, surrounded by fire engines and small gaggles of people interspersed around the flat half of the building. The garden had also survived well , though it was now mostly vegetable fields, sorely needed for what was predicted to be a cold winter. 

Just then a man came up to the pair and said through a thick German accent -  
“We recovered a blond man, and he’s asking for you both. You do know him?”  
He motioned behind him at the almost comical sight of Jack gesticulating wildly at a fireman. Daniel almost laughed out loud out of sheer surprise. He felt Peggy snicker beside him.

“Hey Marge, Danny boy, fancy seeing you here - it’s a real shambles down here, buildings falling left and right, I’m surprised you’re still - ” he broke off, launching into a coughing fit that had them both quickening their steps towards him. Peggy placed her hand on his back as the last of the coughing subsided and wrapped him in a tight hug that took him by surprise. Daniel, only a pace or two behind, enveloped the pair.  
“You’re okay?”

“Well yeah Sousa, it only feels like a cubic ton of dust in my lungs,”

“Har har, funny, Jack. I think it’s time we got you back to the room.”

“Yes Mr. Mom,”

Jack went to stand up, but immediately stumbled.

“You know, it’s okay to need help,”  
“Well, coming from Peggy Carter, it must be true,”

“Okay, enough from you, you need to have a drink of water and sleep, let your body rest.”

“Yes Mom,”

“Oh be quiet,”

Despite protestations, a drink of water and five minutes in bed and he was fast asleep.

* * *

Still rubbing his hair dry from the much needed shower, Daniel leaned against the door jamb, just observing his two people. It had kind of been an unspoken thing, he had wormed his way into his and Peggy’s hearts and they had accepted him. He watched Peggy, sitting in front of the vanity putting her hair into curlers for the night. She too, would periodically look over at the duvet covered lump. They gave each other a knowing look.

“Jack? You alright?” Peggy said softly.

A muffled hmph from the sheets.

Daniel finished toweling and crutched over to the bed. The lump protested as the bed moved under his weight as he went about his nightly stump care routine, though it reached out a hand to skim over his when he reached to put the stump kit away. Daniel took it, and slipped in under the covers, kissing Jack’s head gently as he did so.

There was some more movement around the room, the bed dipped again and suddenly there was another body in between them. 

“I want both my boys close,” came the explanation. That was fair.

“Plus now we all fit on the bed, so - OW!”

Two sets of fingers poked at Jack’s ribs, but the arms stayed wrapped around him nonetheless. It felt nice to be able to feel the warmth of the other two. To know that they were safe. 

They were safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Oops this turned into my headcanon qpr ot3 sorrynotsorry
> 
> A bit of historical context:  
> After WW2 Berlin was divided between the four occupiers, and administered by the Allied Control Council. In the beginning the they tried to work civilly together, but as that Cold-War-feeling set in there began to be bigger and bigger rifts between the Soviets and the Western allies. To get Germany back on it's feet again to become a viable trading partner, it needed a stable currency, which the Western allies introduced in June 1948 - the Deutsche Mark. The Soviets saw it as antagonistic, an it was one of the key factors in the eventual split of the country.
> 
> If you are interested further https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjSBZLSpD8Q - is an american view in 1947 (I was surprised at how anti-German it was, but interesting nonetheless)
> 
> I imagine this meeting being one talking about how to implement the new currency reform.
> 
> Also, Louise Schroeder was a real person! She is the only female Berlin mayor to date, and was elected after the Soviets rejected Erst Reuter because he was too anti-Soviet.
> 
> Translations:  
> ich könnte Ihr Deutsch - I can speak German with you  
> nix zu tun - nothing to do, my arse


End file.
